In Rebirth of the Goddess, I offered Nine Touchstones of Goddess Spirituality as an alternative to the Ten Commandments. The touchstones are not commandments delivered from outside the world, nor are they accompanied by the promise of reward in heaven or the threat of punishment in hell. Rather, the Nine Touchstones are based upon observation of the world and rooted in the insight that human and other beings are connected in the web of life. They are intended to inform all our relationships, whether personal, communal, social, or political.

As I review the Nine Touchstones two decades after I first intuited and reflected on them, I marvel at my younger self. When I write, I often enter into a kind of trance in which words emerge from a place in myself that lies deeper than my conscious rational mind. I do not know that I know something until the words take shape on the page, and even then, their meaning unfolds over time. Something like this must have happened with the Nine Touchstones. I was drawn to the Native American teachings expressed in several of the touchstones even though I did not fully understand their context or meaning at the time. I was drawn to maternal values without knowing that they are the basis of ethics in egalitarian matriarchal cultures.

The first touchstone, “nurture life,” is the foundation of all the other touchstones. Nurturing life is practiced by mothers, sisters, fathers, brothers, aunts, uncles, and others the world around. It is not only a human value: nurturing of life is deeply rooted in the life experience of mothers and sometimes fathers in the animal world. Because mothering is rooted in our animal past, many consider nurturing life to be trivial or at best the physical foundation of so-called “higher” values. But I assert that to nurture life is the “highest value” and that all other values should be judged by whether or not the promote life, not only for ourselves and for those closest to us, but for all human beings and for the web of life as a whole.

Our world today is in crisis. An ecological catastrophe that threatens the possibility of life for humans and many other species is underway. Endless war and violence spawned by endless war are fueling migration. Even if all wars and violence could be ended, migration would continue as fertile lands become polluted by pesticides or turned to desert due to global warming. All of this is happening because some people put other values—short term economic gain, personal gain, greed, power, power over, and so forth above the highest value: nurturing and preserving of life in the web of life as whole.

When nurturing life understood to be the highest value, it is obvious that ripping babies and children from the arms of mothers and fathers at the US border who are fleeing violence and the threat of death in their home countries is wrong. Europe is also not doing very well in addressing the refugee crisis. At present more than 10,000 refugees are stranded in the Aegean islands. And as Nicholas Kristoff reminds us, America is Guilty of Neglecting Kids: Our Own. This too is very wrong.

Why is it that so many among us fail to understand this? Or if we understand, fail to act on our deepest knowing?

In part it is because the values and feelings associated with mothering and motherhood have been disparaged our culture. It does not have to be this way.

“If we look within, we will discover that the capacity for empathy formed in the mother-child bond of all mammals is in all of us. It is wellspring of all ethical behavior for all human beings–not just for mothers, not just for women, but for everyone. When we value the empathy that is hard-wired into our very being, we can change the world.”

Empathy is a word that has lost it’s meaning in American Culture….

I think you are right Carol, you surely did tap into that which is greater than yourself when you wrote the Nine Touchstone… inspirational writing for sure.

Carol, thanks for this reminder that nurturing life is the first thing we should do. Not just our own life, but the life of our Mother Planet. She and we require care of the web of life. Does anything think we’ll be here seven generations from now? I’m feeling very pessimistic.

Sara, I think you’re correct that empathy has no meaning anymore. Well, maybe in a few small communities (like this FAR community) it does, but there’s little sign of it when we watch the news. Maybe all the marchers know what empathy means.

Wonderful the thought that our love of nature and especially protecting nature, caring for our environment, are values in our time we hold dear. And yes, as you rightly suggest, thanks Carol, truly this is our commitment — “The first touchstone,”‘nurture life,” the foundation of all the other touchstones.”

I, too, love your Nine Touchstones. I am drawn to all of them, and in “Walk in love and beauty”, I’m reminded of my Navajo friend (who is a well-respected woman in that community). As you know well and write about with insight & sensitivity, The Beauty Way is about something very different from many typical understandings of beauty.

It is so true that “Our world today is in crisis.” If more of us are committed to striving to live guided by every touchstone you put forth—especially the one about nurturing all of life—and we seriously behave so to enhance the well-being of others & ourselves, the earth might stand a chance.

As John Lennon once said, “You may say I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one.” It feels great to be joined by sooooo many voices:)

I so love that song and we have sung it in the Trapeza cave in Lasithi on the Goddess Pilgrimage to Crete. How many times have we been told we are only or nothing but “dreamers.” But without dreams there is no possibility of changing the world!

“But I assert that to nurture life is the “highest value” and that all other values should be judged by whether or not the promote life, not only for ourselves and for those closest to us, but for all human beings and for the web of life as a whole.”
I so totally agree with this, Carol. What a world it would be if it was our primary value.

Thank you Carol. We need to be walking our talk, reconciling our spirituality and politics. If we truly believe in these values, and they aren’t some theoretical construct, we need to do whatever we can to birth these values in society. That means embracing Kwan Yin along with Lilith, Sekhmet, the Morrighan, Kali, and Durga. Maybe it means sticking our neck out. The days of being passive as we’re steam-rolled needs to end. We’ve sat back and accepted way too many atrocities as normal. It’s almost as if we have a collective amnesia about all we’ve had stolen from us – now wanting to restore balance or a level playing field is called wanting ponies. We’ve been conditioned to be consumers rather than citizens. We tolerate our politicians serving the oligarchy instead of the people as our treasury (tax dollars) is plundered for corporate welfare, to kill and exploit. We see homeless on the street and look the other way. We see corruption and wear blinders. Does the Right sit passively by or do they relentlessly persist until they succeed? All we need do is look at who’s in the White House and we have our answer. Will the Left ever rise up? Will it take losing Roe v Wade to shake off the apathy and get our hands dirty? I guess we might soon see. No doubt these words might make some uncomfortable. So be it. It’s time we stop fighting against each other and stand together in solidarity against the forces that prevent these values from being the norm.